Annals of cholera : from the earliest periods to the year 1817 / by John Macpherson.

  • Macpherson, John, 1817-1890.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annals of cholera : from the earliest periods to the year 1817 / by John Macpherson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    cation of tlie actual cautery to tlie ancles, Su9ruta recommended a compound of myrobalan, orris root, assafoetida, the seeds of the Wriglitia anti-dysenterica, red garlic, rock-salt, and atees, of each equal parts. These were reduced to powder, and mixed with warm water for use. Charaka, a later writer, added opium and black pepper to the mixture. This receipt is said to cure cholera when the eyes are sunk, the pulse is imper- ceptible, and the extremities are cold. In addition to these prescriptions,* Dr. Wise also mentions a potion, the chief ingredients of which were Sinda salt and hutch infused in water. The hutch is a warm stomachic like ginger. In the preceding description of cholera, which is, I believe, treated under the head of indigestions, we have a very fair account of cholera, but by no means so complete as some of those already quoted. It gives us no idea of what was the degree of fre- quency of cholera in India, but it shows that there was a very acute form of it to be met with, of so severe a nature, that in the end it was usual to abandon all attempts to save the patient. I think the reader cannot fail to be struck with the very close resemblance between the concluding- sentences in Aretoous and Suyruta. Their structure is similar; they occur in both at some interval * It is curious to find in these prescriptions the prototype of all the opium and assafoetida and black pepper cholera pills, which always have been employed in Bengal, and are at the pre- sent day popular with the natives of India, and much used in European practice.